My Blog...

For the past two years I have been suffering with a dead infected tooth. Stories I kept hearing about terrible root canal procedures meant I kept postponing getting treatment. Every time I would mention it to someone they would oooh and ahhh in sympathy and kindly relay to me another horror tale, leaving me cringing and squirming at the very thought of white coats, drills and reclining chairs!

You see I also had an unpleasant incident when I was young. Well, the 'incident' itself was easy enough actually. I had my appendix out at 8 years of age with a standard run of the mill operation but the particular circumstances in my case - the world I was looking through at the time - had me feeling a little overwhelmed.

Six months previously my older sister nearly died from appendicitis. I watched as my parents cried and stood over her pale body in her hospital bed. I heard the tales of how she very nearly did not make it. On top of this, my parents were going through a tough time and I knew it.

My sense of 'security' was very unstable. To top it off when it was my turn, the hospital staff appeared cold and insensitive (at least that's how it felt to me at the time). I remember distinctly in vivid technicolour detail all the fine points of that day up to the moment I finally let go of resisting and fell asleep only to wake back up to a painted yellow aching belly.

It was etched in my mind for the next 35 years.

Since this time, letting go and giving someone else control has been difficult for me. Going to the doctor, dentist or even being a passenger in a car stretches my comfort zone. As long as I am in charge, I am okay...that's kind of the tape I have been playing.

So, deciding to take action and finally do this, was no easy feat for me BUT ........ I am a Life & Mind Coach and a hypnotist after all. Actually, I even had numerous people over the years attempt to help me with this, and I am sure it has helped. As the day neared I considered getting some hypnosis again ....BUT then I had a realisation.

I AM a hypnotist. I need to do it myself. I need to know I am doing the right thing for me. That this is MY choice and I AM the one in control. I thought through how I would like to feel and settled on feeling peaceful and grateful, like when I breathe in my dog's scent as I cuddle him.

So that is what I did. I used what we would call in NLP terms a 'Swish' technique. Basically I recreated that scenario (of cuddling my dog) in my head over and over with all my senses and associated the feeling with being at the dentist. I warned the dentist in advance I might be mumbling and talking to my imaginary dog and she appeared fine with that ;-)

And you know what...? It worked. In fact I actually laughed a good bit. You know why?

I (once again) realized that fear really does simply come from the stories we tell ourselves. I had been conditioned by stories I had heard and the story I had been repeating in my head since a little girl - my story will now be very different.

Taking back control and making my own decision and using my techniques brought me back to my power and even though, yes, I was allowing someone else to do something to me it was with my permission. I had asked for their expert help. Sometimes that is okay, in fact sometimes that is the right thing to do.

My old story has now disappeared and I feel so much more empowered. I feel grown up, I feel strong and I feel in control again.

I believe I have now finally really got to the root of this problem.Let me help you get to the root of yours,Danielle xx